Will someone please explain to me how an EPISD board member can have his organization participate in a one million dollar project with EPISD?
This has not passed yet but will be back on an agenda soon.
Mr. Velarde is both a board member and the executive director of the company that they propose doing business with.
We deserve better
Brutus
elpasospeak 
Perhaps Mr Cabrera in his role as attorney has found a loophole, much like Garcia, that allows Board members to directly profit from EPISD business.
LikeLike
Why should we be surprised at this conflict of interest? It is par for the course in El Paso. I still can’t believe we allow full time, highly compensated public sector executives to have consulting careers on the side.
LikeLike
It’s called corruption, and most politicians are good with that. That’s what they really mean by “It’s all good”…
LikeLike
Oscar Leeser purchased Cortney Niland’s El Paso residence while they were in the middle of an investigation for participating in a “rolling quorum”, allowing her to leave town quickly. So quickly she resigned two years early, left her husband while he was hospitalized, and by left I mean she started divorce proceedings.
None of the local media thought these circumstances warranted any scrutiny whatsoever.
Corruption in El Paso is a rite of passage for local politicians.
Velarde may one day run for President and all the media will cheer him.
LikeLike
I never liked Niland, but her leaving her husband is not the taxpayers’ business. She left town for a fresh start and because she knew she had no political future after getting caught on the wrong side in the arena. To think that Leeser would have bought her house with his own money to influence her is silly.
LikeLike
Inherent corruption under Juan Cabrera. “Friends and family” deals, no-bid contracts, Contractors. SOME taxpayers have voted to give EPISD, Cabrera BILLIONS of OUR tax dollars to simply blow-off as he likes. The Cabrera “organization” is no better than the Lorenzo Garcia. They just haven’t been caught YET. El Taxo taxpayers need the FBI to open an office at the EPISD, right next to Cabrera, the School Board .
LikeLike
He will also be the next President of the Board of Trustees
LikeLike
Is there another source for what EPCDC does here? As far as I know it is a non-profit and works with disabled kids. They were a partner with my Broadband Project (BTOP) for the library and provided us with invaluable assistance to configure specialized software and equipment so people with disabilities could access and use the public computer centers we built.
If you were equipping a computer center for users who are disabled, EPCDC is your turn-to source for help. Mr. Valarde can simply recuse himself from voting on this.
LikeLike
That’s the way things are done here.
LikeLike
How is this not a conflict of interest and possibly self dealing?
Velarde is members of both BOT and is not just a paid employee but the Executive Director of the company in question.
LikeLike
Legal but not Right? Well maybe. However, if you think of it in terms of what is it going to do for the children, it may very well be Right.
All of this on paper looks good to me if they get good people to run the programs. This is really iffy for me as I have not seen the EPISD administration be able to do anything right in a long time. I find no direct compensation being given to Mr. Velarde in the backup material, of course, the Board of Directors can give him a raise which I would think would be in line with his added responsibilities. I do not think this deal would have happened without Mr. Velarde being a board member and more than likely the next Board President. My biggest complaint is that there was no effort to blend this program into the possibility of saving one or even two of the schools that were closed. And if the EPISD does not budget and keep their hands off of the money required to facilitate this venture it will probably fail because the EPISD is giving a lot to make this happen.
In short, I think the possibility of having a program that would benefit our special education lost, because of Mr. Velarde’s position is just too great to let it hinder the program. But the program probably still has some hurdles, concerning board approval and it will be interesting to see how it is handled.
LikeLike
With two people already missing from a seven member board, if Velarde were to recuse himself from a vote, it would only leave four voting trustees.
LikeLike
Good. No Board to vote, then maybe Cabrera and HIS “Board” won’t blow-off so much money. Or he just makes “Executive Decisions” and keeps on spending, WASTING taxpayer money.
LikeLike